I don’t know the proper name, but you know what I’m talking about.  We’ve all gotten them in email.  Those friends that send us a link like this ONE  along with a message that says something like, “this is so cool because if you look real close you can see…. or listen real close and turn your speakers up real loud and you can hear…. ” and then some spook jumps out and scares the bejesus out of us.

I got three this week and suspected each of them was before I opened the link because, well the jokes getting kind of old now.  Plus my mom, whos only had a computer for about 10 months and sends me every stupid email ever written, called to tell me to be sure and open a certain email because it was a “test” and to be sure and sit really close to the computer.

Anyway, just wondering.

Sorry, but I love screamers. (That’s what me and my friends call them.)  Oh man, I have so many fond memories involving them.  My favorite was back when I was in a multimedia class.  I used to sit next to this girl, and I was her friend and everything…but she was always so serious.  She was also the type who knew little to nothing about computers since she didn’t use them often, so she didn’t know about the “What’s wrong with this picture?” screamer even though it was pretty well known by then.  It was like a recipe for greatness.  While the teacher was lecturing I told her “hey check out this site” and sent a link to her computer.  She was innocently trying to find what was wrong with the picture when suddenly out popped the screamer (and she already had her volume all the way up!)  She jumped out of her chair and screamed at the top of her lungs, right in the middle of class!  It was a thing of beauty, I tell you!  I was laughing too hard to hear what the teacher said to her though, I think he just laughed too.

...I guess that makes me kind of an asshole, huh?  But it’s not like I can dish it out but can’t take it!  I like being scared by them too.  I think it’s funny.

Eh, I suppose it’s basically the same as going to watch a movie and having the monster/crazed killer/corpse/whatever suddenly jump out and terrorise the audience.  It can be funny to watch it happen to somebody, and it can also give a bit of excitement if it happens to you.

*remembers the time in a crowded movie theatre when, at one such moment, the cute blonde stranger in the next seat jumped clear out of her seat and into his lap*

Accipiter - 30 October 2006 01:42 PM

*remembers the time in a crowded movie theatre when, at one such moment, the cute blonde stranger in the next seat jumped clear out of her seat and into his lap*

It’s like comparing a classic “Candid Camera” moment (I’m thinking of the one where they had a bunch of plants in an elevator, and they’d all stand facing the side, or they all remove their hats or something just to see whether the “victim” would conform) as compared to similar shows today (someone jumps out and shouts, and the victim gives a startle reflex).